This invention relates generally to systems and methods for producing refrigerated air for air conditioning, refrigeration and process cooling applications. More specifically, this invention is a completely new approach and replaces refrigerants used in current cooling systems which involve phase changes (gas-liquid) produced by a compressor and the expansion of the compressed refrigerant into a gaseous phase and the associated refrigeration effect. This invention replaces the usual phase change refrigerant with a molecular structural change refrigerant which is activated by solar irradiation.